When I posted about things I have learned after living on this island for a year, I mentioned that Spanish and Portuguese are not the same. A lot of people do suspect because they just do not know. In fact, Brazilian Portuguese is different from that spoken where I live, in Portugal, just as Spanish in Spain is different from Spanish spoken in Mexico. Well, Sophia of Burp and Slurp asked if I would go into more detail.

Some words are similar and knowing Spanish certainly helps out. The problem is that they sound very different, so hearing words in Portuguese many difficult to pick up on if you are not familiar with the sounds. It actually looks similar to Spanish on paper (for some words), but sounds, in my opinion, more like Russian.

Here are some pronunciation tips for Portuguese:

-Words are not (often) completed, so when it ends with a vowel, that will be dropped: Example, oito is pronounced oite

-The letter S is pronounce SH: Example, Festa is pronounced Feshta

-The letter t is pronounced closer to CH, so leite would be like the Spanish leche, but following the rule above, this word is really pronounced LATE, as in I am late for work

-The letter D is pronounced like a G but more like the word JAY (when followed by an E): Example, verde is pronounced VER-JAY and grande is GRAN-JAY

-The letter J is pronounced like how you would pronounce Zsa in Zsa Zsa Gabor, almost like a sh: Example: Queijo is pronounced CAY-SHO, but remember that words are not finished, so this is really CAY-SH

Now, I am no expert in Portuguese, so this is based on my personal learning and experience.

Since this is a food and nutrition blog, I am going to start with some words for foods and related items. I will list them in Portuguese, Spanish and English. This was you can see how it may be similar or different from Spanish, and you can learn words in another language too.

ENGLISH=PORTUGUESE=SPANISH

Milk = Leite = Leche

Lettuce= Alface= Lechuga

Carrot= Cenoura= Zanahoria

Beet= Beterraba= Remolacha

Orange= Laranja= Naranja

Tomato= Tomate= Tomate

Cherry= Cereja= Cereza

Banana= Banana= Platano

Pineapple= Ananas= Pina

Spinach= Espinafre= Espinacas

Peach= Pessego= Melocoton

Strawberry= Morango= Fresa

Melon= Melao= Melon

Corn= Milho= Maiz

Potato= Batata= Patata

Wheat= Trigo= Trigo

Bread= Pao= Pan

Butter= Manteiga= Mantequilla

Yogurt= Iogurte= Yogur

Ice Cream= Gelado= Helado

Cheese= Queijo= Queso

Beef= Carne= Carne

Pork= Porco= Cerdo

Chicken= Frango= Pollo

Turkey= Peru= Pavo

Olive= Azeitona= Aceituna

Olive oil= Azeite de oliva= Aceite de oliva

Cookie= Biscoito= Galleta

Cake= Bolo= Pastel

Being a dietitian, and knowing some Spanish, I can navigate a grocery store, restaurant and food label pretty well. These words actually came easy to me. Over time, I will provide more information on the similarities and difference between the two languages.

Do you have any questions for me? Any thing you would like to learn about Portuguese?